The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has just confirmed Morocco as the host of the 2025 edition of the African Cup of Nations, Abbeylivenetwork.com reports.
The move to hand the tournament to Morocco will resolve a much-delayed decision over who will replace Guinea as 2025 hosts. The country was stripped of the tournament in October last year due to concerns about infrastructure and facilities.
Competing against Morocco’s bid were Zambia and a joint bid from Nigeria and Benin. Algeria was also part of the race before announcing its withdrawal on the eve of the CAF committee meeting yesterday.
The committee unanimously voted for Morocco’s bid to organize AFCON .2025
The committee also announced Kenya-Tanzania-Uganda s the host of the 2027 AFCON.
In recent years, Morocco has showcased its full readiness to host Africa’s biggest football event.
Officials from both CAF and FIFA have hailed the quality of Morocco’s football infrastructure and accommodation facilities, stressing that the North African country has what it takes to host prestigious sporting events, including AFCON.
Morocco showed its readiness by hosting several world-class CAF events, including the African Women’s Cup of Nations in July 2022 and the Club World Cup earlier this year.
Hailing Morocco’s potential to be a respectable host of international tournaments, FIFA President said last year that Morocco is a great country not only for football but also as a country that knows how to organize major events.
In addition to the continental event, Morocco is also bidding to jointly host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Portugal and Spain.
“It is a candidacy which unites the two shores of the Mediterranean and reflects the ambitions and aspirations of the peoples of the region for further cooperation, interaction, and understanding,” King Mohammed VI said of the joint World Cup bid in a speech last July.
